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Story of Lacey Holsworth moves beyond the Michigan State community, captures the heart of Jay Bilas

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Michigan State senior Adreian Payne helps his buddy, eight-year-old Lacey Holsworth, of St. Johns, Mich., with the net as they celebrate cutting it down after beating Michigan for the Big Ten tournament championship at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on Sunday, March 16, 2014.
(Melanie Maxwell | melaniemaxwell@mlive.com)

So often the source of negative human wrath and anonymous lashing out, it's hard to find the positives.

That was the case for Jay Bilas, who despite having 658,000 Twitter followers himself, followed no one. Until today.

As of Friday, he follows one person in this world, and it's Lacey Holsworth -- the eight-year-old girl from St. Johns, Mich. (@adorablelacey), whose battle with cancer has taken hold of the hearts of Michigan State fans and beyond.

"Wednesday night I was watching Spartan Basketball All-Access," Bilas said in a phone interview with MLive Friday afternoon. "They showed the Michigan State basketball banquet and during Tom Izzo's speech at the banquet, where he had Lacey up on the podium and Adreian (Payne) behind him. He talked about learning lessons from his players and what an inspiration Lacey's been and the courage and toughness she's shown.

"It was really moving and inspiring. If you could watch that with a dry eye, you don't have a heart."

Lacey's unique relationship with Payne has been the lasting image of Michigan State's season. The struggle with cancer became even more difficult as of Wednesday when Lacey suffered a seizure. The fight for her life weighs on Payne as he plays in the NCAA tournament here in Spokane.

"I talked to Lacey and her parents yesterday and it's hard and it's like having a family member that's really sick and ill," Payne said. "The only thing you can do is just play basketball because you can't be there with them. And just knowing that when I play well it makes her happy, it feels like I'm doing something in a way to help her feel better."

With Lacey on his mind, Payne set a new Michigan State NCAA tournament record with 41 points in a win over Delaware Thursday night.